Paris!

It was finally time to head to Paris. The night before, I had visions of crusty bread, beautiful people and gorgeous buildings dancing in my head, and Paris did not disappoint. At 9am London time, we boarded a train at the St. Pancreas, and at 12pm Paris time, we arrived at Gare du Nord. Immediately, upon arrival, I realized that Matt had greatly over stated his ability to speak French, so I was glad that we decided to book one of those open air, double decker bus tours. We only had 8 hours to see Paris, so this was the perfect way to optimize our time. Because the food in England was so bland, and I was blown away by French food, I'm bringing you a more food-centric blog today. Imagine that! Food on a food blog.

The thick red line indicates where we rode the open air double decker, and the thick blue lines indicate where we walked. 

We rode the bus from the train station until we decided to get off and find lunch. We walked back towards the Louvre, stopping at a cute bistro (Rouge Saint-Honoré) on the way. They were having a special where, for 15.50 euros ($21.80), you could get an appetizer, entrée and dessert off a set menu. If you didn't like the choices they had, then you could order off the regular menu. 

While we sat and pondered the menu, we ordered a glass of wine. We ended up with Chateau Guillot's Bordeaux Supérieur, which was incredible. We both regretted not buying another bottle to take with us as we couldn't find it in the wine shops we popped in to.

We decided to stick with the set menu, and for my appetizer, I ordered the Terrine de Saumon, as Matt had already claimed the ravioli, and stated that we had to order different items. Basically the dish was salmon layered with spinach (I think) with a salad. It was actually pretty good, and didn't give me that itchy feeling that I get sometimes with fish. The dish seemed to fit perfectly with the beautiful spring weather we had.

Matt's appetizer was Ravioles Tomate Mozza, which was a yummy, cheesy ravioli. The sauce was rich, but not overly sweet, and I wanted to take a big bowl of the raviolis, along with a glass of wine, and curl up in front of a fireplace with a good book. I was glad that I didn't order them, as I would have devoured them and not had room for the rest of the meal, but instead I had my one ravioli and savored it before diving back in to my salad and salmon.

For my main, I ordered the Risotto aux Champignons, which was a mushroom risotto with (of course) mushrooms, pasta sauce, and a ridiculously placed tomato that reminded me of a clown's nose. I swore to myself that I would have a risotto while in Paris, and by god, I kept that promise. I was really glad that the sauce from Matt's ravioli showed up in my risotto as it really added a level of depth to the dish that it would have lacked without it. Also, it kept the dish from being too bland.

Matt ordered the Filet de Sole (don't worry, I warned him it was fish) because he hates mushrooms and every other option had mushrooms included. The sole was well cooked, but I hated the sauce that covered it. The sauce tasted almost tuna based, therefore it was overwhelmingly fishy, which I thought was bizarre. However, Matt didn't seem to mind it at all, as he ate the whole thing, and apparently the potatoes and green beans were tasty.

For dessert, we split the Mousse au Chocolat (Chocolate Mousse) and the Crumble aux Pommes (Apple Crumble). The chocolate mousse came with a light sprinkling of salt on the top, which really brought out the richness in the chocolate. However, while it would delicious, an entire bowl of it eventually became boring. Much to the horror of the other patrons, I added the raspberry sauce from the crumble to my mousse, which seemed to really add a lot of flavor and balance. The crumble was sweet, but rustic, and also really benefited from the raspberry sauce, though truthfully, it was delicious without it.

After lunch we walked to the Louvre, where we stood in awe of the beautiful structures. The main exhibit was closed, as it was a Tuesday, and we weren't interested in any of the special exhibits, so we spent a half hour just taking pictures and gawking. Here are a couple of pictures that I snapped with my phone while we were there:

After the Louvre, we hopped back on the bus (to complete the red path on the left side of the map) and saw Notre-Dame, Musée d’Orsay, Champs-Élysées Clemenceau, Arc de Triomphe, Tour Eiffel and much more. After completing a lap, we walked to Notre-Dame de Paris and eventually back to the train station. The Cathedral was absolutely breathtaking, and even though I was cathedral-ed out at this point, I was glad we went (a feeling repeated the following day at the Abbey). 

On the way back towards the train station, due to being threatened with train food as someone (coughMattcough) wasn't hungry, I popped into a pasta shop where I pretty much just pointed at a picture of pasta (trottole), a sauce (vodka) and a cheese (emmental) and they tossed it in a box for me. Not only convenient, but delicious. Though it didn't photograph well, it was a perfect (and perfectly quick) dinner to have before hopping on the train and heading back to London.

All in all, we easily walked 6 miles, saw many beautiful buildings, spent 8 hours, and had two wonderful meals in Paris. I plan on taking French next semester so we can travel around France exclusively next time. Until then, maybe we'll pick a Spanish speaking country so I can put my language classes to good use.

Here are a couple other pictures (from my phone, again) from the trip to Paris:

Exploring London, Day 1

On Monday, March 21, Matt and I set out to see some of London. We got passes that gave us unlimited use of the subway stations for a day, along with free entry into several different locations. With passes in hand, we headed out. We started the day by visiting St. Paul's Cathedral, which was beautiful. We made the error of going up to the Whispering Gallery as it was approximately 300 stairs up, and 300 back down. The Whispering Gallery was pretty neat, as it had an amazing view within the Cathedral, and if you whispered along the wall, people on the other side of the room could hear you. Once we reached the bottom, we realized that we probably shouldn't start a day of walking with 300 stairs, but the damage was done. By the end of the trip, between the subway stations, Tower of London and all the places we visited, we easily went up and down 1500 stairs, which I used to justify half the stuff we ate.

St. Paul's Cathedral

After St. Paul's we walked over Tower Hill to see the Tower of London and go on one of their guided tours with the Beef Eaters. I think my favorite part of that trip was the Armory, where we got to see the weapons and armor that knights wore. It was pretty cool. Also, in some areas, they had actors in costume, so it was interesting to observe the textiles and interactions first hand. They even taught us a new (to us, really, really old to England) game. I know it's a food blog, but here are a few pictures from the Tower. Keep in mind that, like the food pictures, many of these have been taken with my phone, so that may not be the best quality.

While at the tower I became irritable, which apparently was an indication that Matt hadn't been feeding me, so we headed over to the cafeteria for lunch. They have this area that is a mix between a buffet and cafeteria, with many choices, so you order what you want and then pay for it. Both Matt and I got roasted ham with Yorkshire pudding, carrots and a potato option (chips for him, wedges for me). We both agreed that the food was some of the best we'd had in London, but at the same time, it was just okay. Before the trip, everyone I talked to expressed their disappointment with British food, and I'm starting to realize why. A lot of the food is kind of bland. However, it looks yummy...

After lunch we walked across the bridge and ended up at the Winston Churchill's Britain at War Experience, which I really enjoyed. We go to see a lot of war memorabilia, some of which we got to try on, and different rooms portraying what it was like to live during the war. I'm not much of a sightseer, but I love this kind of thing, so I really enjoyed myself.

Gas Mask Chic

Isn't he handsome?

After leaving Churchill's we went to the London Bridge Experience, which was a lot of fun! The first part, the London Bridge Experience, had a bunch of costumed people talking about the bridge in a creepy/fun way. They went through the history of the bridge, including the Great Fire, as well as how it was used for torture. It was both funny and informative. Afterwards we went through the London Tombs, a haunted house that was scary, but also a lot of fun. I definitely needed something like this to break up all the tours and sightseeing, which can be a tad on the boring side.

After the London Bridge, we headed to Shakespeare's Globe Theater. The original Globe Theater burned down in 1613, so this one was only a replication, but it is supposedly built in the exact same manner the original was. So, they didn't use modern tools, they made all their own materials, and made it as close to the original as possible.

After the Globe, we headed to dinner, where we had Italian (I think we were both sick of pub-like food). We had garlic bread, which was similar to naan. It was perfect for Matt, as it was neither too buttery, nor too garlicky. 

I ordered a chicken dish, which Matt claimed tasted like "macaroni and cheese". It was pretty good, but I had to agree with him that it tasted kind of weird. The chicken wasn't overly breaded, which was good, but it also wasn't terribly flavorful. The restaurant we went to was very small, and was two levels, so I felt really bad for the wait-staff as they had to continually go up and down the stairs carrying food. 

 Matt ordered a Carne Pizza, which had salami, bacon, and Italian sausage. We both thought his was pretty good, though I think he still prefers Round Table's version better.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where we arrived around 10pm. I promptly passed out.

Planning, planning, planning

Last night, Matt whispered the most beautiful thing into my ear: “Meg, we’re on vacation. Let’s not set an alarm.” It might have been the greatest thing he’s ever said.

I woke up, blow dried my clothes (I should have just paid the 20 pound to get it laundered, but I’m cheap and creative. However, my clothes are still damp, and it's been over 24 hours), and started making plans for the day. One plan included googling restaurants near our location, and when doing so, I found out something pretty interesting; there are a lot of Indian restaurants in London. In a horribly complex move (read:paint) I made the Indian restaurants near us blue, just to give you an idea. This is really exciting, as I love Indian food, until I remembered that Matt would balk at the menu and probably just eat 10lbs of naan. 

Once Matt got up, we got ready and headed to a pub called Prince Arthur. There we had our beers: Grolsch for me, which was kind of like a Heineken, and Guinness for Matt. They asked Matt if he wanted his beer "cold or regular," so I am guessing that it isn't customary for them to serve Guinness chilled.

 Matt wanted to go to the pub because he heard that there were roasts on Sunday. We didn't really know what that meant at the time, but apparently it means that they make a roast beef and serve it alongside vegetables, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. This wasn't nearly as exciting as the image I had in my mind of a pig roasting on a spit, but it works. Matt really liked the Yorkshire pudding, broccoli and potatoes, but thought his roast beef was tough, and had me eat his cauliflower, which I didn't mind at all.

I ordered their Steak and Mushroom Pie with mash and onion gravy. It was okay. The mash and gravy were pretty awesome, but I hated the texture of the mushrooms and thought the whole pie was kind of bland. The mushrooms were super thick, hard and had a bizarre flavor, so I ended up picking around them, which was a shame as I love mushrooms.

After brunch, we went to the Welcome Collection, which is a mix between a museum and ever changing art exhibit. We learned about the Art of Dying, Obesity, Malaria, Genomes, The Body and Medicine throughout History. It was a pretty interesting collection of exhibits. The Body exhibit had an interactive model of the human body where you pushed a button labeled with a body part, and the corresponding body part lit up within the model. Matt, of course, quizzed me on my knowledge, and I, of course, just wanted to push buttons and watch it light up. The Body exhibit also had a booth where it took your picture, asked you a few questions, and then composed a compiled picture of everyone who fit into the categories you selected. Matt's beard threw off the entire compilation. It was interesting to note that, the average non-exercising, carnivorous, fast food eating, under 40 smoker was more attractive, and thinner, than the frequently exercising, vegetarian, non-fast food eating, under 40 nonsmoker. This has reinforced my love for my carnivorous, under-exercised life style. Also, the machine would find "similar matches" to your facial features and show you pictures of those people in the database whom you "matched". The woman before us had approximately 20 matches. Matt had two, including a black man. I didn't have a single match. Not one. Apparently, I am special.

After looking around the exhibits for a couple hours, we headed back to the hotel to plan our trip for tomorrow. While planning out our activities, Matt said the last thing any fattie or foodie wants to hear: "How about we skip lunch and just do dinner tomorrow? I'd like to fit in extra museums during that time." I swear a little piece of me died inside. At 9pm, we skyped for a bit with family, which definitely raised our spirits. I think we've spent just a little too much time together. After skyping, we headed to the train station for dinner. I know that sounds weird, but a lot of things are closed on Sundays, even more so after 10pm, but we knew there would be something open, like a Burger King, which was delicious. 

I had a Whopper, small fry and small Diet Coke, and Matt had a hamburger plain (boring), a large fry and a large Coke. At this point I was so hungry that I could have eaten a boot and thought it tasted wonderful, so you could only imagine how amazing the fatty goodness of a Whopper was. 

So now we're back in the hotel room, re-routing our trip for tomorrow as our previous plan was "financially irresponsible" to execute with a prepaid day pass. It's a good thing he fed me, that all I've got to say about that.

Aston Villa Game

Matt and I got up at the obscene hour of 4am, unable to sleep any longer. Seeing as neither of us really had dinner, and the "continental breakfast" the hotel offers didn't open for another 4 hours, we settled for goldfish. It was a good thing we did, too, because the "continental breakfast" was really just bread, some cheese and two choices of cereal, which both looked like corn flakes. Needless to say, we were a little disappointed with the hotel food, but always satisfied with goldfish crackers.

At 9am, we hopped on a train from Euston to Birmingham, and then took another within Birmingham to the Aston Villa stadium. We arrived around 11, only to find that the only food available were from food trucks that smelled like burnt socks. Many of the pubs open around noon, so we waited in line for one only to find that it required a prepaid ticket in order to enter. We walked around until we stumbled across the Aston Hotel, which, it turns out, doesn't really serve food. So, our lunch was Foster's with a side of Foster's and second hand cigarette smoke. Both filling and terrible for you.

At the Aston, we made a lot of friends who wanted to know about where we were from. Every time I told someone that we were from California, the person first asked if we surfed, then stated that they had been to some obscure town in Canada in hopes that we would know what they were talking about. Overall, killing time before the game was pretty fun. Interesting thing though, British people are really hard to understand. Half of the time they're speaking in slang, and if they happen to be saying something you might understand, it's in a dialect so thick that you can only guess as to what they are saying. It actually made for a lot of fun, especially as everyone we talked to was such a good sport and readily admitted that everyone outside of their town had a hard time understanding what they said.

Once we got to the stadium to watch the game, Matt and I split some chips (french fries), which I would have taken a picture of if they didn't disappear in a record amount of time. Aston Villa lost 0-1 to Wolves and I learned swear words that I never knew existed, nor would I repeat in polite society. In overwhelming sadness (lol) we headed back to the Aston to kill an additional 4 hours until we could board our train back to London. 

We had more beer...

We made more friends...

...and then one of our new friends spilled half a pint on me. When I asked him for a towel, he took of his jacket, handed it to me, and told me I could use it as a towel. Seeing as I was sopping wet and without other options, I did. Let me tell you, it was the nicest towel I've ever mopped beer off of myself with. At that moment I was ready to leave and get some food, so we left the hotel and I did the best to make it look like I hadn't wet myself with beer. I did my best to laugh it off, but a girl can only laugh so much when she's cold, tired, hungry and smells like a homeless man.

From the pub we went to a tiny Jamaican-esque restaurant where Matt and I split a jerk chicken concoction, fries and naan, which Matt loved. The whole thing was ridiculously inexpensive, and pretty darn good.

The chicken concoction was kind of bizarre; it was red and had jalapeños in it, but somehow seemed to be kind of flavorless. Maybe that's why Matt liked it? However, the "chips" were delicious.

Matt discovered a love for naan that he didn't know existed, which of course meant he ate most of it. That kid is really not good at sharing his carbohydrates.

A couple hours later, we were on our first train to the main station in Birmingham, where we hung out for about two hours. It was a learning experience. They have pay toilets that cost 30 pence to use, and I saw a very confused (and drunk) man with long, flowing hair, peeing in the ladies bathroom. If I learned anything from that experience, it was that Brits really like their liquor.

Before we left the station, we grabbed a baguette sandwich and coke for the journey back to the hotel. The sandwich, Brie with tomato and basil, was amazing and totally worth the awkward interaction where the woman behind the counter asked me a question and I turned to Matt to translate. Somehow he seems to understand mumbling much better than I do.

So now we are back at the hotel, safe and sound, and I'm preparing to wash beer out of my jacket in the shower. For some reason, while packing, I never anticipated needing a second jacket in case of drunken incident. You live, you learn. 

Flight and Arrival

Before we left, there was some joking that I was going to document everything I ate on my trip to England and Paris. However, after thinking about it, I decided I may as well go through with it. After all, why shouldn't I combine two things that I love (eating and writing)? Let's get to it!

First, plane food! You may be thinking "Plane food? Really, Meg? No one likes plane food. I'm actually feeling nauseous just thinking about it!" but I assure you, this plane food was actually pretty decent. Matt and I both really liked the dinner, which consisted of a beef stew with mashed potatoes type of dish (super tasty), a dinner roll (who doesn't like carbs?), salad (do you see the mozzarella balls? DO  YOU?), a lemon and ginger concoction that tasted pretty similar to a key lime pie, tea and a soft drink. Overall we were both pleasantly surprised. 

The awesome dinner gave us high hopes for breakfast, which sadly, was just okay. Breakfast was a banana nut muffin (kinda tasty), a liquidy yogurt drink in the strawberry flavor (the only thing Matt ate/drank), a cluster ball comprised of something that resembled oats, but was overall unidentifiable and inedible (see that brown blob in the upper right corner of the box? What IS that?), a mini box of raisins, which  has a mini amount of contents, orange juice, and a mint, which I was glad to have as I had morning breath and my toothbrush was in my checked baggage. What I would have really liked would have been fruit and a bagel, but we've got to make do with what we are given.

After navigating a few different train lines, confusing streets, and a whole lot of rain in the wrong shoes, we made it to our hotel. Unfortunately, we made it 2 hours before check in, dead on our feet and sopping wet. Luckily, they were nice enough to hold our bags while we went to the attached restaurant, Zone One. Seeing as we  missed our opportunity to drink on St. Pattie's day, and nothing cures the cold/wet/tired blues like alcohol, we started lunch off with two pints of Foster's. Don't they look refreshing? They were.

Matt ordered the fish and chips, as he's been dying to have it, and was a little disappointed when this arrived at the table. Perhaps part of the problem was that the fish actually looked like fish. I think he was expecting the American over-breaded-is-that-chicken-or-fish fish and chips, so was a little shocked by what arrived. However, he seemed to like it, and actually ate some of the mashed peas after making me try them first. They tasted similar to split pea soup, which makes sense, as it's pretty much the same process. I'm not sure if he thought I was going to Linda Blair them, but I'm getting used to being his quality control for food.

I ordered the Tomato and Mozzarella with Pesto sandwich, which was only pretty good until I decided to dip it in a bit of vinegar. The acidity made the sandwich really tasty, and much less bland. I figured I'd put balsamic vinegar on my tomato and mozzarella salads, so why not on my sandwich? Definitely a good choice. The mozzarella was thick, moist (oh how I hate that word) and soft, and the tomatoes were fresh and meaty. The steak fries were to die for, and I was totally taken by surprise when the waiter asked me if I wanted mayo for my fries. While I know I said I would do all things British, I stuck with my true love, ketchup, as my condiment of choice.

After lunch, we checked in, went up to our room and fell asleep until 7pm. When presented with the option of getting out of our pajamas in order to get something to eat, or staying in jammies in bed, Matt chose sleep and I chose a shower. Let me tell you, it was the Best shower of my life. Between flying and the subway, I felt all kinds of grimy. However, with a shower, blow dry, and my teeth cleaned, I feel like a new woman. Dinner wasn't anything picture worthy (goldfish crackers and a chewy bar) as we just ate the snacks we had packed for the plane. 

Stay tuned for tomorrows update of Food Served at British Sporting Events. Spoiler Alert: I'm pretty sure it involves beer.